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Community Information Flows to Reduce Inter-Communal Violence in Burma

Emily Speers Mears et al.

Search for Common Ground (2015), 71 pp.

"The research presented in this report aims to contribute towards a better understanding of the way in which rumors, hate speech, and manipulated information contribute to inter-communal conflict and outbreaks of inter-communal violence in Myanmar. It focuses on Muslim-Buddhist inter-communal confli ... ct in one urban and one peri-urban area: Lashio, the largest town in Shan state, and Amarapura, a former capital on the outskirts of Mandalay [...] People in Lashio and Amarapura draw upon a wide range of sources for information and news. They mainly obtain information by word of mouth from friends, colleagues, people who travel for their work, and figures of authority. They share this information by phone and online messaging services, and in markets, teashops and pagodas, as well as other places where people gather such as bus stations. Certain individuals in the community are regarded as trustworthy sources of information including religious leaders, teachers, bosses, government officials, and community leaders. Many people also have access to news applications on Facebook, and/or read journals and newspapers, listen to the radio, and watch TV in order to find out about news that affects them. People report a high level of skepticism about the news that they hear, particularly from sources like Facebook and government newspapers. They analyze not only the information itself but also the source of that information, and check whether it is accurate with people who live in the affected area, or by going to see for themselves. Family members or trusted community members are also consulted to verify or analyze news and information. Respondents also claim to try to verify information by checking different news sources. The more they can cross-reference, the more confident they are that the information is accurate. [...] The causes of inter-religious inter-communal conflict in Myanmar are not well understood. There is a long history of Muslim settlement in Myanmar, and of peaceful relations between Muslims and Buddhists. This changed with the arrival of the British, whose colonial policies brought an influx of Indians, including Muslims, to Myanmar. Specifically anti-Muslim (rather than anti-Indian) tensions first came to a head in 1938; however an inquiry into the anti-Muslim riots of that time found that while the riots had religious anti-Muslim undertones, the real causes were political, economic and social. There have been irregular outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence in subsequent decades, but unfortunately few detailed investigations or analyses of their causes, due to the difficulty of conducting research under the socialist and military governments, and to the sensitivity of the issue. This difficulty persists to the present. [...] Both Muslims and Buddhists are worried about religious violence, and the impact that it might have on the economy. However, most people in Lashio are probably more immediately worried about the fighting between the Tatmadaw and the ethnic armed groups that is taking place outside of Lashio, which has negative effect on the economy, on their livelihoods, and on their feelings of security, due to the numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have sought safety in Lashio. Ethnic groups in Lashio are concerned that the religious conflict will also have an impact on ethnic relations, due to the different religions amongst the ethnic groups. In Lashio, there is also a high level of anti-Chinese sentiment on the part of the Bamar and other ethnic groups. [...] The large amount of rumors about Muslims and about Muslim-Buddhist conflict that we heard in Lashio and Amarapura suggest that people are concerned about this conflict. Negative rumors contribute to the background levels of hatred and distrust of Muslims and serve to manifest tensions between the two communities. This kind of background hatred and distrust may not in itself result in violence. But it means that Buddhists and Muslims in these areas do not mix, and fosters an environment of suspicion and hostility, creating an enabling environment for violence. However, on their own, rumors are not sufficient to trigger violence. For every example of a situation where (true or false) rumors have triggered violence, there is an example where rumors have not triggered violence. Other factors – harder to identify – contribute to outbreaks of violence, and to the underlying conflict. It is essential that these factors be understood if the root causes of inter-communal conflict are to be addressed. KEY RECOMMENDATIONS With this analysis in mind, the following recommendations are provided: recognize the important role that word-of-mouth communication plays in the ways that rumors are spread; recognize and understand the nuances in each local context, in order to develop a deeper understanding of why people feel insecure, as well as to identify root causes of the conflict; mitigate the background levels of anti-Muslim hate speech, by engaging with the genuine Buddhist concerns that are expressed through hate speech; and strengthen community resilience to potential ‘trigger’ rumors – and recognize and strengthen existing efforts to combat these rumors." (Executive summary, page 3-7) more

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Inside the News: Challenges and Aspirations of Women Journalists in Asia and the Pacific

Paris; Bangkok: UNESCO; UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (2015), ix, 90 pp.

"On average across Asia and the Pacific, women make up 28.6 percent of the media workforce. The proportions are lower in decision-making roles in media organizations where women make up 17.9 percent of executive roles, 19.5 percent of senior editorial and 22.6 percent of mid-level editorial position ... more

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Clandestine and Other Target Broadcasts

In: World Radio TV Handbook: The Directory of Global Broadcasting 2016

Oxford: WRTH Publications (2015), pp. 508-515

"Clandestine broadcasts are politically-motivated broadcasts produced by groups opposed to the government of the target country. Other target broadcasts can be produced by either governmental or non-governmental organisations and are targetted at zones of regional or local conflict." (Page 508)

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Censored Gender: Women’s Right to Freedom of Expression and Information in Myanmar

Yin Yadanar Thein et al.

London: Article 19 (2015), 91 pp.

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Audio-Visual Religion in Asia

Material Religion, volume 11, issue 4 (2015), pp. 415-549

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Free Speech and Censorship Around the Globe
Deep Insights

Péter Molnár (ed.)

Budapest; New York: Central European University Press (2015), x, 552 pp.

"This is a book about free speech narratives. Stories about how imagination and rational thinking in wildly different cultures capture, imagine, and conceptualize what freedom of speech means. 1989 and 2011 are only two recent (in historic perspective) turning points when freedom of speech and freed ... more

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Final Evaluation: Democracy and Development in Action Through Media and Empowerment (DAME), 2012-2014

Welmoed E. Koekebakker

Search for Common Ground (2015), vii, 57 pp.

"1. The DAME project has contributed to its overall objective of ‘strengthening the democratization process in Timor-Leste’ and to its specific objective of ‘enhanced engagement between NSAs, State authorities and their constituencies’ in the development process. 2. Most effective were the a ... more

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A Moving Faith: Mega Churches Go South

Jonathan D. James (ed.)

New Delhi et al.: Sage (2015), xvi, 243 pp.

"A Moving Faith captures the dynamic shift of Christianity to the South and portrays a global movement that promises prosperity, healing, empowerment, and gender equality by invoking neo-Pentecostal and Charismatic resources. It postulates that neither North America nor Europe is the current center ... more

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Im Gegenlicht: Gesellschaftskritik im Spielfilm

iz3w, issue 384 (2015), pp. 17-40

"Gerade in Ländern des Globalen Südens gibt es eine beeindruckende Vielfalt kritischer Spielfilme aller Genres, vom Roadmovie bis zur Groteske. Mal sind sie explizit politisch, mal eher angedeutet und metaphorisch, um die Zensur zu umgehen oder um eindimensionale Interpretationen zu unterlaufen. I ... more

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Mobile Value-Added Services and the Economic Empowerment of Women: The Case of Usaha Wanita in Indonesia

Tian Cai, Han Ei Chew, Mark R. Levy

Mobile Media & Communication, volume 3, issue 2 (2015), pp. 267-285

"Mobile value-added services (MVAS) represent a growing collaboration between the private sector and the development community. In this paper, we examine one such MVAS, the Nokia Usaha Wanita service running on the Nokia Life+ platform in Indonesia, and we assess its impact as an innovative means fo ... more

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The Role of Community-Based Media in Strengthening, Preserving, and Promoting Identity and Culture: A Case Study in Eastern Thailand

Pisapat Youkongpun

Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communications, volume 1, issue 3 (2015), pp. 197-210

"The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyse the role of community-based media in information distribution in the Riverside community, Chanthaburi province, Eastern Thailand. Recently, this strong community has been identified as a cultural tourism destination. The community has started ... more

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Radio in Timor-Leste

David Foster

In: World Radio TV Handbook: The Directory of Global Broadcasting 2016

Oxford: WRTH Publications (2015), pp. 34-36

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Philippine Community Journalism: Roles, Status and Prospec

Jeremaiah Opiniano, Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas, Mia Rosienna Mallari, Jhoana Paula Tuazon

Grassroots Editor & Community Journalism, issue Spring (2015), pp. 29-36

"This case study examines the current state of community journalism in the Philippines. This paper builds from previous studies, especially those by Filipino community journalism scholar Crispin Maslog, on the community press in the Philippines. The focus of this paper is the community newspaper and ... more

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Country Report: “Media and Gender in Cambodia”

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific (2015), 27 pp.

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Country Report: “Media and Gender in Malaysia”

International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Asia-Pacific (2015), 31 pp.

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Media Hounded by Junta Since 2014 Coup

Benjamin Ismail

Reporters Without Borders (2015), 43 pp.

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Gender in the Myanmar Media Landscape. First Study: Yangon and Beyond

Dilrukshi Handunnetti

Stockholm: Fojo Media Institute (2015), 30 pp.

"Although female media practitioners are well-represented in newsrooms making up for over 50% of staff on average, media institutions remain male dominated on levels of decision making. This results in two main challenges for women within the industry: a lack of opportunity to advance their careers ... more

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